Pacific countries request access to Australia NZ travel bubble
New Caledonia, PNG, Solomon Islands and Tahiti request access to Australia NZ travel bubble
The tourism bodies of New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tahiti submitted a formal letter to the offices of both the Australian and New Zealand Prime Ministers that outlined the benefits of including the Pacific nations in a regional travel bubble from July 1. The collaborative working group of South Pacific tourism boards is aware that this regional bubble will require extensive negotiations on health, safety and contact tracing measures.
The nation that presents the biggest risk in the proposed bubble is Australia, which has 445 active coronavirus cases. Much of the South Pacific region and New Zealand have now zero cases of coronavirus. According to John Hopkins data, all but one of the 21 coronavirus cases in New Caledonia have recovered.
Australia and New Zealand are one of the highest sources of visitor arrivals for the four South Pacific nations. The travel bubble would also allow thousands of Australian and New Zealand workers in the aviation and tourism industries to get back to work.
Australia and New Zealand are currently considering a proposal for international tourism to resume from July 1 with the first flight from Canberra to Wellington.
